Beyond the Void
by Lady Legos
Summary: The power of spaghetti. Great enough to create a cross-dimensional portal? Apparently it is. And so we follow the travels of two teenage girls, thrown into a world of magic, shadows, and children's card games...
1. Glowing Spaghetti of Doom!

**A/n Hello there. It seems that you have come to read this story. Or you accidentally clicked on the wrong link. Which does happen sometimes, I admit. This story has been completely re-written so it's not as horrible anymore! Yeah, all four chapters of it have been re-written... This is a self-insert, but I really hope niehter Kitty nor I come off as being Mary-Sues... Cuz being perfect is boring! Anyways, so I hope you enjoy it! **

**Disclaimer: I am NOT the owner of Yugioh. If I where then... Well a lot of things would have changed. For instance, Bunni would have been sat on way more often. And if you're wondering who Bunni is, then go and start reading. NOW. **

Normally when a kid's first time home alone comes around, they end up freaking out and getting worried that they'll be murdered. The first time_ I_ was left at home by myself, I watched TV and played Neopets till around 2:00 in the morning.

Of course, seeing as that was about five years ago, I wasn't wasting my time playing Neopets – No, I wisely used my time to watch episodes of Yu-Gi-Oh! instead. As for why my parent's needed to be gone for that to happen… Well, let's just say I get a tad violent when watching certain episodes.

"HAH! IN YOUR FACE, YUGI!" I yelled, and proceeded to throw another dart at the computer screen. As for why I decided to try my best to destroy the mini-Pharaoh as best as I could – well, I was simply bored. And when you're bored, there's nothing better for it than throwing a sharp object at the head of a certain spiky-haired midget.

Suddenly, I quickly closed the computer window with a barely repressed shudder. A friendship speech – now THAT I could do without. So instead of continuing to watch, I promptly got out of my chair and went to go make something for dinner – leftover spaghetti, as it happened to be.

On my way to the kitchen I picked up the phone. Might as well call Kitty, seeing as I had been needing to talk to her and she hadn't been online in a while. So I dialed the number that was literally implanted in my brain, placed the Tupperware container in the microwave and waited.

Ring…

Ring…

Ring-

"Hello?"

"Hi, this is Kelsey. May I please speak to Amanda?" I asked, always using the same greeting that I had been taught when I was five. Old habits die hard.

"Sure," Bug (Amanda's sister) answered. While I waited for Bug to find Kitty, I started to watch episode 51 while eating my spaghetti.

"Hello?" Amanda said.

"Hello!" I replied.

"Hello!"

"Hello!"

"Hello!"

"Hello!"

"Hello!"

"Hello!"

"Hello!"

"Hello!"

"…We do this every time, don't we?"

"YEP!"

And so proceeded what could probably be categorized as one of the most crazy-Yugioh-obsessed conversations you have ever heard.

This proceeded for several hours. I think our record conversation has been for ten hours straight, but I'm not completely sure.

So around two hours later my spaghetti, long forgotten, was sitting in it's little plastic container, probably miserable from the lack of attention it was getting. But we're not here to talk about the spaghetti's feelings. We're here to talk about what proceeded to happen with that fatal little mixture of noodles and tomato sauce.

"Hey, Kitty?" I asked my best friend, a very random idea popping into my head.

"Yeah?"

"What do you think would happen if I threw spaghetti at the wall?"

"…Um, Kelsey…"

"What?"

"Wouldn't that be a little… Messy?"

"But I want to know what happens!"

"Fine. But don't come whining to me when you end up killing your wall."

"…I think the wall is already dead."

"No, it's alive you idiot!"

"Hmph. Well I'm going to see what happens when you throw spaghetti at a wall. So BRB!"

And then I proceeded to pick up the container, turn around, and change the fate of world by throwing spaghetti at a wall.

"SPLAT!" went the spaghetti as it splatted against the wall, making a nice addition to the formerly noodle-less spot on the wall.

Then I noticed something strange.

"That's weird…" I said into the phone.

"What is it now?" Kitty asked.

"Does spaghetti normally turn blue when it hits a wall?"

"Um, I would say no."

At this point I was getting pretty freaked out. The spaghetti was glowing. Like, GLOWING glowing. As in the glowing something glows when it's turning into something important. I backed up slowly. Or at least tried to. It doesn't work well while sitting in a wheelie chair that is already all but squished up against a computer desk.

The glowing had now become more of an oval shape. The spaghetti was gone, whatever mystical powers it had contained becoming something much more epic.

"…THIS is weird…" I told Kitty.

"Well you tell me what's going on? I've been sitting here not knowing what's happening while you're sitting there watching your spaghetti glow."

"I think I just created a portal to an alternate dimension."

At first there was only silence on the other end of the line.

"I'll be there in a about three seconds STAT," came the late reply, and then there was a small click.

How she was going to get here, I didn't know. But I just sat there like the idiot I am, watching as the spaghetti portal grew bigger and bigger.

**A/n Yes, if you're wondering the word glow IS used several times on purpose... Cuz it's a fun word. Glow. Glow. GLOOOOOW. GLOW!!! Now if you're sick of the word, then too bad. Cuz I still like it. Anyways, please R+R!! Oh wait a second. You've already read. ...The makes things complicated. So now the first R will stand for retrofy. Which probably isn't a word. OH WELL NOW IT IS!!! So retrofy and review, please!! Thankies! ~ Mystic**


	2. Into the Fiery Depths of Bunni Sitting

**A/n Yay for the power of noodles! I won't bother you too much here, you'll have to wait till the end for that! Hahaha.**

**Disclaimer: I DON'T OWN YUGIOH. What will it take to convince you people of that?!**

The spaghetti portal was about six feet high and growing when the car pulled up in the driveway.

I managed to divert my attention from the glowing blue gate to see who the heck had thought to come to my house at this time. Much to my surprise it was Kitty who got out of the driver's side of the car.

"I'm just not going to ask…" I said as I opened the door, letting her in.

"Trust me," Amanda said, dead serious. "You don't want to know. Now where's this mysterious spaghetti that you seem to have found-"

She never completed that sentence. She just stood there with her mouth agape, dumbfounded, staring at the wall.

"Told you," I said, smirking, as I went to examine the portal more closely. "That's strange, it seems to have stopped growing…"

Kitty reverted back out of her trance and stared at me.

"Then that means that either something is about to come out of the portal, or we're about to get sucked in," she said. "But… Spaghetti? That's a really strange plot device."

I nodded. It wasn't unusual for us to converse in terms that made life seem like a book, it tended to happen quite often.

"I'll take what I can get," I commented. "At least something interesting is finally happening to us- CRAP!"

"What?" Kitty looked at me strangely, with good reason too because I had suddenly raced out into the garage after a quick glance at my feet.

"If we're going to get sucked into a dimension I would like to have shoes on!" I yelled back, and then proceeded to lace up my shoes.

Then I realized that Kitty hadn't replied yet. That was rather odd. I walked slowly back to the keeping room, wondering what had happened.

I blinked a few times, and then rubbed my eyes. She was gone.

"Kitty…" I said slowly. "This really isn't the time for a joke-"

And then the strangest thing happened. A shining blue tendril snuck out from the portal and wrapped around me, pulling me in. This wasn't good, but there was no way I could fight whatever magic was taking hold.

"Just please let there be no hungry demon on the other side," I prayed. "Or something else that would resolve in instant death."

And then I was enveloped by the glow.

All physical senses were washed away. It was like my body had been melted away, and I wouldn't be terribly surprised if it had. Even though I had lost my body, my mind had whole new senses of it's own. I could sense things instead of seeing them, though the colors were there and vibrant, it was as if they really weren't there at all but it was just what I thought going through a portal would feel like so my mind was supplying the rest, having no idea what to make of the situation.

I felt a climbing sense of vertigo, and with came a sudden sense that I had just passed through a barrier. Suddenly I felt very different. It was as if there was this whole well of energy inside of me, and it had been there all along but I hadn't had the sense to notice it. It felt ancient, dark… And it was something I didn't understand. Then, suddenly, there was a flash and single symbol appeared before me for the briefest instant. It was like three elongated teardrops, arranged in an upside-down triangle shape with the points pointed outwards. I felt like I should recognize it… But I didn't, and that bothered me. All, this was forgotten, however, as suddenly I saw the literal light-at-the-end-of-the-tunnel and came tumbling out into whatever world was prepared for me.

"WHOOMPH!" was the sound that was made when I landed. I sat up, the world spinning slowly in circles around me. I shook my head and the dizziness evaporated. I looked up and a tiny pin-point of blue light disappeared with a flash. I looked around me, and saw that I was up on a balcony, inside of a warehouse. About a foot away from me was Kitty, also looking horribly disoriented until she saw me and her eyes widened.

"Well, I guess we survived whatever trans-dimensional trip we just made," I said lightheartedly, and then noticed that Kitty was still staring at me, or more correctly at the floor I was sitting on. "What's wrong?"

"Um…" she said hesitantly. "Kelsey… You're kind of sitting on…"

I looked down at where I was sitting and gasped.

"_He_llo," I said down to the not-too happy Yami Bakura.

**A/n Well, techincally there WAS a demon on the other side... Just not a hungry one... I don't think. Maybe he was. Let's ask him!**

**Bunni: I'm a 5000 year old spirit. I don't GET hungry. **

**Mystic: So anyways, R+R now stands for rabbit + review! Why? Because I want it to! **

**Bunni: You're weird. **

**Mystic: As Kitty would say, touche. Hey that rhymed.**

**Bunni: *facepalm***

**Mystic: You're pathetic. Bye for now, wonderful readers of awesomeness!**


	3. Fire, Fire Everywhere

**A/n Hehehe. This chapter was fun to write. I like sitting on Bunni. **

**Bunni: I don't.**

**Mystic: You don't count. So anyways, on with the story!**

**Disclaimer: ...Is there any evidence in this story that makes you think I own Yugioh? Is there any at all?**

"Would you get off me, you fool?!" Bakura said in a very aggravated tone.

"Ooh, somebody used the f-word…" Kitty said and smirked at the Thief King.

"And no, now that I think about it," I said, looking down at him and crossing my arms. "I won't get up. Unless you say please."

"Do you know what I could do to you without even barely thinking about it?" he said in that annoyingly British tone of his.

"Yes, actually," I said, chuckling a little at the look on his face. "And to be honest, I don't really care."

Bakura then seemed to realize that he was fighting a loosing battle, and so he close his eyes and said in a very pained voice, "Would you _please_ get off?"

"Ok!" I said and promptly stood up and went to go stand by Kitty, who was currently looking over the rusted metal railing. Bakura got up and brushed off his jacket, and apparently decided to give up what little pride he had left to come over next to me and watch what was going on.

"Wow, Bunni," I said to him. "You sure know how to make somebody go insane…"

Which was true, because currently below on the dueling arena, Bandit Keith was running towards the Millennium Puzzle, about to smash it. And of course Yugi was getting pretty frantic, too.

"What," Bakura said, turning to me with murder in his eyes. "Did you call me?!"

"Well, it gets rather confusing after a while," Kitty said. "I mean, it's not _our _fault that you and your hikari go by the same name."

"So we had to call you something else," I said. "And since every time you gain control of the body, you randomly sprout bunny ears… Well, Bunni it was!"

"And is," said Kitty firmly. "So get used to it."

And with that we turned back around to watch what was happening, leaving Bunni in his rather confused state.

"I've got better things to do right now than listen to you two anyways," the spirit said after a couple seconds. Kitty and I watched as his hair flattened and his eyes turned from red to brown. The Millennium Ring disappeared inside his shirt. Then he grabbed a large metal hook that was hanging from cord, and then swung down to were the Millennium Puzzle had just been smashed.

"That's quite enough of that!" Bunni said in a voice much more nicer than he had used to address us. Bandit Keith proceeded in being knocked over the edge.

"Are we really just going to stand here and do nothing?" Kitty asked, turning to me.

I grinned at her.

"Of course not," I said. "There's a ladder over there, let's go!"

We managed to make it down to the dueling arena just as Yugi was asking Bunni where he came from.

"The same place we did, of course," Kitty said, interrupting Bakura's answer while we were climbing up onto the platform. "The balcony."

Yugi of course then proceeded to stare at us, while Bunni groaned and rolled his eyes.

"Who are you?" the smaller of the two boys asked.

Ok, so maybe we didn't look like the most beautiful people you would ever have the chance to meet, but it's not like we looked like freaks, either.

I had on jeans and white-gray tennis shoes, and my frizzy, shoulder length golden-brown hair was pushed back behind one ear. My shirt was tight fabric with gray and white leopard spots, patterned to look like snakeskin. My blue-gray eyes looked out through rectangular, dark brown, half-rim glasses. And of course I had my wolf-tooth necklace on.

Kitty was wearing dark jean shorts and a shirt that had roses and smoky, unreadable gray text on it. She also had on this pretty amazing black jacket that stops at her waist in the back and in the front, one side crosses over the other with a little belt running across it. Her shoes where blue, black and silver and her dark brown hair was hanging over her right, bright green eye.

"I'm Kelsey," I proceeded to introduce ourselves. "And this is Amanda. But you can call her Kitty."

"We're…" Amanda said, trying to think of the right words. "Well, we're sort of from a different dimension."

There was a pause as the two teens comprehended this bit of information.

"Well, I've heard weirder…" Yugi said softly. "By the way, I'm Yugi Mouto and this is my friend Bakura."

"Don't we have something more important than introductions to do?" I asked. "Like, put the Pharaoh back together?

"You know about-" Yugi started to ask, looking a tad bit suspicious.

"Yes, yes, we know about Kitten," Kitty said, and then saw the look on Yugi's face when he heard the nickname. "Don't ask, it's a very long story involving cats."

Yugi must have decided to ignore this because he turned around and accepted the pieces of the Puzzle that Bakura had picked up.

"Better shattered than stolen, I supposed," Bunni said as Yugi took back the pieces.

"Yeah, I guess you're right," the midget said. "It took me forever to put it together the first time, but at least I have the chance to try. Who knows, maybe since I did it once already maybe this time it'll be easier."

You could almost hear the thoughts in Bunni's head as head while Yugi started to piece the Puzzle back together. In fact, I swore I almost could feel the transfer of energy from the ring to the piece that Bakura still held in his hand…

_Look's like somebody's having fun, _I thought, and then Bunni looked sharply at me.

_Who said that?!_ I heard clearly in my head, and I almost jumped and then proceeded to stare at Bakura, wide-eyed.

_Uh… _I thought back to Bakura. _I guess it was me… Didn't know I could that…_

_Great, _Bunni thought, _Just what I needed. Some crazy psycho who can talk to me mentally._

_I am _not_ psycho! Maybe just a tad crazy, but that doesn't count!_

_Mmhm. Sure._

_HMPH!_

I closed the mental link quickly, though I wasn't really sure how I did it. I decided it would be best to keep that incident to myself, maybe I really had just been going crazy…

"Yugi," Bakura said, walking over the person in question and holding out a closed fist. "You missed this one piece."

"Thanks a lot, Bakura," Yugi said, turning from the half-completed Item to accept the extra piece.

Bunni walked over to edge of the platform and turned around, preparing to lower himself off of the edge.

"Thanks again, Bakura, you really saved the day!" said the rainbow-headed male to the other teenager.

_BOO!_ I yelled mentally to Bunni, causing him one nanosecond of hesitation that made him drop off the edge and land on his bottom. I snickered.

"Kodak moment…" Kitty whispered to me.

_You'll pay for that, _Bakura said as he walked out.

_I'm so _dreadfully_ scared, _I replied before turning around and joining Kitty in sitting on the edge of the platform, waiting for Yugi to finish the puzzle.

"Hey, Kitty…" I said hesitantly, remembering something.

"Yeah?" she asked, curious as to what I could be wondering.

"Isn't this the part where the whole building gets set on fire?"

"I'm pretty sure, why-SHIT!" she suddenly exclaimed and jumped up, but it was too late.

I heard some yelling on the other side of the dueling platform, and Yugi turned around and started yelling at Keith to stop.

I got up, too, just in time to see the metal pole connect with the circuit breaker and cause the explosion.

"We've got to get out of here!" I yelled over the flames that had suddenly appeared.

"I can't leave the Puzzle!" Yugi yelled at me, starting to get pretty frantic.

"The Puzzle can survive this, you idiot!" Kitty yelled back, trying to pull Yugi away with no results. "We can't!"

"Kitty, it's no use," I said, starting to get pretty desperate myself. "Even if Yugi wasn't tranced out there's no place to escape! We're going to have to wait for Wheeler to get here."

"Well then he better get here pretty fast, 'cause our chance of survival isn't looking to good right now."

Suddenly there was a crash from the other side of the building and I could here somebody yell, "Is anyone here?!"

That would be Tristan.

"OVER HERE!" Kitty and I yelled.

The two idiots finally got to where we were and saw Yugi. They climbed up the side of the platform, and then seemed to realize that we were there.

"Who are you?" Tristan asked.

"Questions later!" I said. "Right now we need to focus on surviving!"

Joey had already attempted to get Yugi away from the Puzzle, with the same result as Kitty.

"Yeah, we could have told you that doesn't work," I commented dryly. "Try figuring out a way to get the Puzzle off of the hook!"

Then I realized that Kitty had been standing there, staring at Joey the whole entire time.

"Snap out of it, idiot," I whispered to her, and she suddenly reverted back into a thinking state. "We can worry about your romance issues later."

"Sorry," she replied sheepishly.

"Don't worry, I understand completely," I said, grinning.

I turned back and saw that the idiot team still hadn't made any progress and sighed.

We watched as finally Wheeler got the metal pole and the two of them managed to break the Puzzle's chain off from the dealing arena.

"Finally!" Kitty shouted. "Now let's go!"

We took off and the five of us managed to make it out of the building, where Tea was waiting with the fire trucks.

I breathed in a deep breath of non-smoky air. Then I looked at Kitty.

"Well, you can't say that wasn't interesting," she said to me, and then we both smiled.

For the first time in my life, I felt like I was home.

**A/n Longest chapter as of yet... I'll try to make the chapters longer from now on! Promise!**

**Bunni: Yes, because THAT'S going to happen.**

**Mystic: They didn't ask you. Why would anyone ask you? You don't count, remember?**

**Bunni: Oh yes. I almost forgot. *rolls eyes***

**Mystic: So anyways, yay for the more-awesome third chapter! Please remember to Run + Review! Bye!!!**


	4. RIP KaibaCorp Building

**A/n Hello there! Guess what? I finally updated!!! And if you're wondering why this chapter makes no sense as to what you've read so far and why it's a tad short... Well, that would be because...**

**I WENT AND RE-WROTE ALL PREVIOUS CHAPTERS!!! GO READ THEM BEFORE YOU READ THIS!!!**

**I decided to re-write it because I am a MUCH better writer than I was. Really. I am. I don't claim to be the best writer in the world, though, because I'm definitely not!**

**And with that note, here is the long-awaited fourth chapter.**

**Disclaimer: I do not own Yugioh. I hope that you know that by now.**

"SHIT! I'm late for school!" I cried out, sitting straight up in my bed, having just looked at my watch. "Wait a second…"

"Is that _really _the first thing you think of when you wake up?" Kitty asked as she rolled over, looking at me from her bed, annoyed.

"Oh…" I said, suddenly remembering where we were. I fell back on the mattress with a thump. "Sorry about that."

Kitty rolled her eyes and turned back around, trying to sleep again.

I stared up at the hotel room ceiling, my completely messed-up hair feeling very itchy. Yugi had insisted that he pay for our lodgings, though at first I had been adamantly against it. Then he had brought up the point that we didn't have any money, so how were we supposed to pay by ourselves?

…Well, it couldn't be _too _terribly difficult to hack in Kaiba's credit card account…

Suffice to say, Yugi ended up paying for it.

Anyways, so here we were in Domino City. I had decided that today would be a good day to look around. Especially since tonight would be the night that Kaiba announced the Battle City tournament, and we didn't want to miss that.

It's not like we would be dueling or anything, but it was essential that we tag along with Yugi and Co.

If you're wondering why, well, mainly because of entertainment and secondly because I wasn't sure how long I could keep Kitty captive here, knowing that she was in the same city as Wheeler. Besides, annoying characters by pointing out simple concepts that they overlook is too much fun to resist.

I got up and went to go shower and get ready.

About and hour later I went down and ate the hotel-supplied breakfast. Soon Amanda joined me and after we ate we went outside to explore.

"So, where to first?" Kitty asked me as we strolled along a sidewalk.

"Well, I would like to be at the museum when Kitten gets there, so that would be around seven or so, but until then we can go pretty much anywhere," I replied.

"You know what," Kitty said mischievously. "Let's go pay a visit the KaibaCorp. building."

"Yeah, let's get a good look at it before we end up blowing the thing to pieces…" I started to say, and then trailed off, stopping in front of a shop window.

"What is it?" Kitty came up beside me, looking at the window skeptically.

"I really, really like that purse," I said, motioning with one hand towards a black over-the shoulder purse that was hanging in the window. It had a little bronze plate with a Celtic knot cut into it on the front, and the inside was a turquoise and dark blue design. I had also noticed inside the store there were notebooks and pencils, and I saw a pair that would go so perfectly with the purse…

"Be right back," I told Kitty, and then I was gone inside the shop, leaving confusion in my wake.

Around five minutes later I came out wearing the purse, the notebook inside of it.

"Dare I ask how you managed to get the money to buy that?" Kitty asked, raising an eyebrow at me.

"The same way you got your mom's car keys," I said, smirking at her. She rolled her eyes and we continued on.

-o-

It had been a fun-filled day as we went around the city, pointing out things that we recognized from certain episodes and just enjoying the whole place. But 7:00 finally came, and so we walked into the museum, wondering what possible havoc we could cause.

"Still looks like the National History Museum and the Lincoln Memorial combined," I commented as Kitty and I approached the Domino Museum.

"It's a big museum with white columns," she said sarcastically. "Why would it look anything like them?"

"Oh shut up," I murmured. "It's not like you weren't thinking the exact same thing."

"Yes," she replied. "But I didn't voice my idiotic thoughts out loud. You did, so therefore you get the blame."

"You think?" I murmured before walking up to Kitten, who happened to be standing there right in front of us. "That's new."

She didn't get time to acknowledge my charming witticism, though, because then I tapped Kitten on the shoulder, causing him to jump about a foot in the air before turning around to see who exactly had decided to startle him.

"Who are you?" the spirit asked, looking at us questioningly.

"Aw, you don't remember us?" Kitty said, faking remorse. "I'm hurt."

"For your information," I said, trying very hard not to laugh at the look on Kitten's face. "We were the ones who helped save you Millennium asset yesterday in the fire."

"Oh yeah!" said Tea. "I remember! You were trapped in there with the fire, too, weren't you?"

"Yeah," I said, noticing the glimmer of recognition in Kitten's eyes. He must have accessed Yugi's memories.

"How do you know about the Millennium Items?" the Pharaoh asked, his voice suddenly suspicious.

"It's a…um…" I said, scrambling for words. Something inside of me said not to say anything about the Yugioh TV show.

Some people don't like having time paradoxes on their hands.

"As we've said before, we're from a different dimension," Kitty said, rolling her eyes. "So obviously we can't tell you anything without the fate of the world being in even more danger than it already is."

"What she said," I said lamely. "So anyways, aren't we here to go look at the Ancient Egyptian exhibit or something?"

"You're right," Kitten said, though the suspicion hadn't completely gone from his face he still turned around to look back up at the museum. "No matter what lies behind those doors, I'm ready to face it."

"First one to the top wins!" Amanda yelled suddenly as she started racing up the stairs.

"Wins what?!" I shouted after her as I started my own ascent.

"…Uh…" she said, stopping at the top. I ran up next to her about two seconds afterwards, but she had still won. Which made sense, seeing as she had been on the track team back on Earth.

"We'll figure that out eventually, right?" I asked, smirking.

"Of course," Kitty said, and then we turned to walk into the museum, Kitten and Tea right behind us.

This was going to be _fun_.

**A/n Hope you liked it! And I'm sorry that the story was so horrible before, I hope it's better now... I shall be updating MUCH quicker, I hope.**

**Bunni: So now you've made two promises you can't keep. **

**Mystic: Shut up. I really will try to update sooner and keep the chapters longer! I will!**

**Bunni: Good luck with that. It took you around five minutes just to type out the one line that Tea says. **

**Mystic: That's because friendshipness BURNS. So anyways, ****I think I'll set the next chapter as being posted at least by... September 17. Relish and review, please! Bye!!**


	5. It's The End of the Begining!

**A/n: Hello there, wonderful readers of mine! You are probably staring at this update right now. Why? Because it's early! **

**Bunni: Gasp!**

**Mystic: I know, surprising, isn't it? So anyways, I shall not dilly-dally any longer! Go and read!**

**Bunni: Dilly-dally? Is it even legal to use that phrase?**

**Disclaimer: I don't own Yugioh! Get over it!**

They all smell the same, museums. The extreme cleanliness that slowly dwindles away as the day goes on and visitors contaminate it. If it weren't for those glass cases, then maybe the old, ancient scents would come out, and it would smell like a museum _should_ smell like.

Not to say that I don't like museums or anything, but seeing things that don't have a scent just seems… Unnatural.

As you might have guessed, we were currently in the Domino City museum, which was strangely crowded for this late at night. Oh well, it makes it much more easier to slip into the obviously forbidden basement.

"I wonder what would happen if a security guard saw us sneaking down here," I whispered to Kitty as we slipped through the dark doorway and down into the lower level.

"Of course that won't happen," Amanda replied, faux seriousness covering her face. "How else are we supposed to learn about the _terribly_ interesting story of Kitten's past?"

We collapsed into a fit a giggles that had to be stifled quickly as we followed Tea and Kitten into the main room.

Right before we entered, though, Kitty glanced at me, stared at my forehead, and then shook her head, and then rolled her eyes at herself.

"What is it?" I whispered at her urgently.

"For a moment there, I thought I saw…" she replied, trailing off. "Anyways, it was probably just a trick of the light or something."

"Or something," I murmured as we walked into the open space. "More like you're mind trying to compensate for the lack of brain tissue and failing."

"Hey!" she said, but I rolled my eyes and ignored her, concentrating on something else.

I could feel something down here, a sense of power. Those stones – they had seen many things come to past, many things that weren't of this realm. Their story had been recorded on their faces – Or had it? Suddenly I got this overwhelming feeling that that story we could see wasn't the truth, nowhere near the truth. In fact, it might even be a cover up, built so that people searching for the answers would be led down the wrong path, because the true answers would be far to dangerous to find…

I was snapped out of my reverie by Tea exclaiming about how Kitten looked so much like the Pharaoh on the tablet. I soon forgot about what I had been thinking of, for an idea had just popped into my head.

"Or maybe having gravity-defying hair was just a fashion in Ancient Egypt," I retorted, and then looked slyly at Kitten. "No, you're right – definitely a privilege reserved for only the Pharaoh himself."

Kitty snorted at the look on his face, which was pretty priceless – and it was good thing Ishizu decided to make her entrance then or else the overly-clichéd term "looks can kill" might have become a reality.

"My Pharaoh," said an oh-so-mysterious voice behind us. "I have been expecting you."

"Who are you?" Kitten asked, sounding suspicious yet again. It seemed to be an ongoing trend with him.

"I am Ishizu," she said, and I zoned out, barely paying attention to the "blah blah blah" about things which where extremely obvious. Kitty looked like she was about to fall asleep, and since the both of us were currently being ignored it probably wouldn't matter if we did fall asleep.

Because, let's face it, the whole entire ancient Egypt speech was _boring_. Not because I wasn't interested in it the first time that I had heard it, and by itself it was pretty fascinating, but in the actual series you hear it several times – Over. And over. And so hearing it one more time in real life was like watching politics on TV, one of the most boring things in the world. And then Kitten said something that made both Amanda and I come back to reality, looking at each other and grinning.

"How do you know that the world is in danger of being destroyed again?" the spirit asked.

"Well," Kitty started, calling attention to us for the first time. "First of all, she has a Millennium Item that can see past, present, and future."

"And secondly," I continued, knowing exactly where she had been heading. "The world is _always_ about to be destroyed. You don't even need magical powers to know that it's in danger, just say that it is and I can guarantee that somewhere, somehow, somebody is formulating a plot to destroy the world."

This of course, provided a great many stares. Just what we needed. Fortunately, everyone was distracted as Ishizu suddenly touched the Millennium Necklace. I felt it activate.

"Oh my Pharaoh," the Egyptian said, sounding resigned. "The events of the past will occur once again, and the same great evil will return to threaten us once more."

"That didn't sound like a prophecy at _all_…" Kitty murmured softly to me. I snorted, and then returned my attention to what was being said.

"I also know that a Duel Monsters tournament is beginning," Ishizu was saying to Yami as she turned to leave. "If you win it you will find your answers. Farewell, King Yami."

"Well at least you know that you won't have that much pressure on your to win the tournament this time," I commented sarcastically.

"So you're name is Yami?" Tea asked Kitten curiously.

"And hedgehogs can fly," I said to Kitty, who looked at me strangely.

"Well if you count the helicopter incident in episode 70..." she said.

"…Mokuba didn't sprout wings, did he?" I asked sardonically.

"You never said anything about wings."

"It was implied."

"Touché."

~*~

"Don't these people ever go to sleep?" I asked Kitty as we walked through (the very crowded) Domino Square.

"Most of them are here for the tournament, genius," Amanda replied, rolling her eyes at me.

"Shut up," I said, and then suddenly looked up as an extremely sadistic laugh rang through my head. I noticed Kitten looking up, too, it seems that I wasn't the only one who heard it.

_Marik!_

And of course, it happened to be Kitten who got my thoughts.

_What did you say? _he asked incredulously.

_Mar-Marshmallow. _I said, and cringed inwardly - that mental image was going to haunt me for a long time… _I said marshmallow. And don't ask how I can talk to people with Millennium Items like this, because I don't know._

At least this confirmed that it _was _the Millennium Item thing, I had been afraid of a special connection with Bunni or something… That would have just made my day.

"What's the matter?" Tea asked, looking concernedly at Kitten.

"Nothing," he said, of course not revealing anything.

"Hey, it's Yugi!" exclaimed a very obnoxious voice.

"Oh, joy," Tea said sarcastically as we turned to see Mai Valentine running towards us.

"For once I actually agree with you, Tea," Kitty said.

"I know you guys missed me!" said the blonde idiot, coming to a stop in front of us, and then looking curiously at Kitty and I. "Oh, hello there! I'm Mai Valentine. Who are you?"

"We really need to start charging money when people ask us that question," I whispered to Kitty, who snorted.

"These are our new friends, Kelsey and Amanda," Tea said, annoyingly cheerful as always.

"I assume you've come here for the tournament?" Kitten asked in a very robotic tone, not sounding too pleased about the sudden appearance of Mai.

"But of course," she replied. "I presume you've got an invitation also?"

"He's the friggin' _King of Games_," Kitty said in a tone that sounding a little… mocking. "That, and the fact the Kaiba is pretty much obsessed with beating him pretty much earns him a spot in the tournament finals."

"How do you know that Kaiba is the one sponsoring the tournament?" Kitten asked, surprised. "The invitation was anonymous."

"Who else would have enough money and enough card game fixation to do it?" I explained. "And since Pegasus is AWOL, it's really not that difficult to guess."

"Speaking of Pegasus, this is beginning to look like Duelist Kingdom all over again," Kitten commented, making Kitty huff and cross her arms. She was probably pretty disappointed that she had missed Duelist Kingdom. I personally didn't care, I preferred the second season to the first one by a lot.

"You can say that again," Mai said, though I disagreed wholeheartedly – all of Kitten's lines by themselves where almost more than enough, we didn't need to have them repeated. "There certinatly are a lot of familiar faces around, most of which I'm not too happy to see."

"Ugh, you're right," Tea said despondently. "That's Weevil Underwood and Rex Raptor!"

Again bringing up the question of how they managed to make it into the tournament. Kaiba must have run out of acceptable duelists or something.

"And there's Esparoba," Mai continued. "They say he uses physic powers to duel."

I had the sudden urge to go bang my head on a wall several times. I mean, how idiotic were these people? Mai herself had used the whole fake physic routine before, and even she fell for the obvious fake!

Then again, I shouldn't be too surprised.

"But if what you thought is correct," Kitten said, addressing Amanda and I for the first time. "Then this tournament is going to have a whole new wrinkle!"

"And there he is now," Tea said, and we all looked up at the giant screen accordingly.

"If anyone has a rotten tomato or some other type of easily-thrown messy object, please speak up now," I said as we stared at Kaiba's barely larger than normal head.

"What, so can make another portal into an alternate universe?" Kitty asked ironically, looking at me out of the corner of her eye.

"Shut up," I said, sticking out my tongue at her and then returning my attention to the screen.

"Greetings, Duelists," Jacketboy said. "Welcome to the town of Domino."

"Well, I have to say Kaiba is the person I least expected to turn up with some manners," I whispered to Kitty. She stared at me.

"You're right!" she murmured back. "It's a sign of the apocalypse!"

"No," I disagreed, shaking my head slowly. "It _is_ the apocalypse."

"I see you've all received your invites to KaibaCorp.'s very exclusive Duel Monsters tournament, and you had enough brains to show up here tonight," the talking head continued. "Seeing as you are all elite duelists, I've added special rules to my tournament just for experts."

"Yeah, special rules that have been in the official Dueling Rulebook since day one," Kitty scoffed.

"For example, you will be dueling using these new, improved Duel Disks!" Kaiba exclaimed, getting an impressed and excited buzz from the crowd. "Another new rule that I designed for the tournament is that before each duel, both player must ante up their rarest card, and the loser of the duel forfeits his card to the winner."

"Forfeit my Dark Magician!" Kitten said, sounding appalled, as if he where actually afraid of loosing a duel.

"My competition will make Pegasus and his Duelist Kingdom look like a joke," the narcissistic continued.

Suddenly a harsh wind blew throughout the square, and there were rapid chopping noises as everyone turned around to see a helicopter descend from the dark night sky.

"Ok, so I admit the whole rotten tomato thing would be really funny right now," Kitty conceded to me.

"I can see the headlines already: KaibaCorp. Ruined by Vegetable!" I burst out, and Kitty laughed.

You could almost feel the tension in the air as Kaiba and Yugi glared at each other, forewarning of rivalry to come.

"Don't forget to register and pick up your Duel Disk, because exactly one week from today, my Battle City tournament begins!" said the CEO.

"You're on, Kaiba!" Kitten challenged up at him.

And so it began.

**A/n: Dun dun duuuuun!!! That was needed. It really was. Don't believe me? Don't care.**

**Bunni: I don't.**

**Mystic: I wasn't asking you.**

**Bunni: Your point being...?**

**Mystic: I give up on trying to explain the secrets of the universe to you. Sorry for any grammer/spelling mistakes and such, but I was raised as a human and as such those mistakes are, unfortunately, natural. Next update shall be some time before the end of the month, hopefully. and the 21st is my birthday! Yay for birthday! Thank you for reading, and remember: Ragtag and review!**


	6. Finding Joey

**A/n: Hello there! Bet you didn't expect to see this chapter up this early! **

**Bunni: They probably fainted in shock.**

**Mystic: Hmph. Well anyways, the reason I'm updating so early is because I tried to take a "well-deserved" break from writing this. It didn't work so well. I just hope that this chapter is as good as the others and doesn't seemed rushed of anything... It's definately not my favorite, but that's just 'cuz I don't like the episode. Filler is boring. So anyways, I would like to say thank you to all of my reviewers (I'm going to start naming them starting next chapter, I just don't feel like it now), and now go read!**

**Disclaimer: If you think I own Yugioh then you are a LOONY. **

"And why, exactly, are we on the roof of the school?" I asked Kitty as the group stood, well, on top of the school.

"Because the roof is awesome like that," Kitty said with a shrug.

"You can't be serious!" Wheeler suddenly said, apparently reacting to Yugi telling him about last night. "You mean to tell me that that rich punk Kaiba's holding his own exclusive Duel Monsters Tournament?!"

"Yep," Yugi said, seeming strangely indifferent to his friend's distress.

"And it starts in about a week," I commented. The expression on Wheeler's face was getting pretty interesting. Kitty giggled.

"I can't believe moneybags didn't send an invite to me!" the frustrated teenager complained. "I was the runner up in Duelist Kingdom! Where's the respect?!"

"Are you actually implying that Kaiba ever had any respect for you?" Kitty asked. "In his opinion, you're probably even lower than the ground you walk on."

"I'll give_ him_ something to walk on!" Joey retorted threateningly. Something told me that that didn't come out the way it was supposed to.

"You know this is exactly how he wants you to react," Tristan commented. Wait a second, did he just say something slightly intelligent?

"You gotta good point there," Wheeler said, calming down. "Maybe I don't need to enter Kaiba's snooty competition. What about you, Yugi – are you gonna enter the competition?"

"He doesn't exactly have a choice," I said. "If he doesn't, Kaiba will proclaim himself King of Games and make Yugi look like a coward and a fool."

"Besides, it's my fate," the midget threw in. "I just found out that entering Kaiba's battle city tournament is the only way I can achieve my destiny."

"You destiny?" the tall blonde asked, confusion spreading across his face. "What are you talkin' about?"

"It's a long story involving giant rocks and the fate of the world," I commented dryly. "Something coming back from the past to try and destroy the world, Yugi must defeat it, blah blah blah."

"You know, the usual," Kitty said, grinning.

"Well then it's my destiny to help!" Joey proclaimed. "And I've got just the card! Red Eye Black Dragon, folks!"

He held up the aforementioned card into the air. I couldn't help thinking that even a regular Blue Eyes would crush it without a second glance, and Kaiba had Blue Eyes _Ultimate_ Dragon. And don't even get me started on Obelisk and the other Egyptian Gods. Yes, Red Eyes was a pretty powerful card, but it wouldn't last very long if you were dueling someone with a good deck.

"So now you're saying you've changed your mind again, and you _are_ going to enter Kaiba's tournament?" Tristan asked sardonically.

"That's what I'm sayin' alright!" Joey replied, missing the insult. "Yugi inspired me! With Red Eyes in my deck, I've got it made!"

The rooftop was filled with sweat drops galore as Wheeler proceeded to kiss the card.

"Looks like you've got some competition," I whispered to Kitty, who proceeded to glare at me.

"Wait a second," Tea suddenly imputed. "Didn't you learn your lesson the last time you dueled Kaiba?"

"Yeah, he did sort of kick your ass," I agreed. "Red Eyes didn't work so well that time, did it?"

"You'll need to have a little patience, Joey," Yugi said, dishing out the help as usual. "First you should get used to Kaiba's new, more advanced version of the Duel Disk."

"The old ones were too advanced for me," Joey stated, Kitty snorting at the understatement. "They cost me the duel!"

"You're a much better duelist now than you where then," Yugi continued. "But before you jump right into another duel with Kaiba, you should practice dueling with the Duel Disks."

_That first part was a lie and you know it, _I thought silently at Yugi, smirking mentally.

_He needs the confidence, and he_ is_ better than he started,_ he shot back, annoyed. _I didn't specify when "then" was._

_Who pissed in your coffee this morning? _I asked lightheartedly, enjoying the little spat. _I was _complimenting _you, genius._

"Well, what are we waiting for?" Joey asked, excited as a puppy with a new chew toy. "I've gotta go try and sign up for this thing!"

And then he ran off, leaving us with no other choice but to follow him.

~*~

"Looks like the registration office is over there," Tea pointed out to us. Joey sprinted off towards it, Tristan following – probably making sure Wheeler didn't get lost.

"Do you think they'll let Joey sign up for the tournament?" Yugi asked as we followed after them.

"Seeing as it is Kaiba's tournament after all, I'd say no," Kitty said. "But either way, I don't want to miss out on whatever show is about to take place."

"By the way, thanks for taking Yami to the Egyptian exhibit yesterday," Yugi told us.

"I still can't believe he was an Ancient Egyptian Pharaoh!" Tea said.

"Yep, and he saved the whole world, too!" Yugi said brightly. We continued walking in silence for the next couple of minutes, and I looked around at the tall buildings and hoards of people, bored.

"Here's the sign-up place," I said, interrupting Tea's worry-fest, which was quite obvious on her face, however oblivious Yugi was to it. Tristan and Joey where already there, looking inside curiously.

"How may I be of assistance?" the creepy-looking dude at the counter asked as we all walked in.

"Hi," Yugi said politely before continuing. "We would like to register for the Battle City Tournament and get our Duel Disks."

"Well then, my young friends, you have entered into the correct place," said the guy – who was really starting to give off rapist vibes. "You're fortunate since I have three Duel Disks left. But first I have to make sure you're qualified to register."

"Ok, I'm Yugi Mouto," the short teenager stated, though it was a wonder he wasn't recognized by his unforgettable hair.

"Not bad, you've got five stars," the counter guy said after he finished typing Yugi's name into the computer. "That's the highest rank."

"Where does this information come from?" Yugi asked curiously.

"KaibaCorp. Performed extensive research on Duelists around the world and compiled the results into a database," the man said as he turned the computer monitor around. "This shows your skill rank and the rarest card in your deck. Mr. Kaiba has gone through great lengths to make sure he knows everything about you and your decks."

This caused quite a shock from everybody except Kitty and I, and soon they where complaining about the unfairness, and how Kaiba was _cheating_ and that was such a terrible thing to do.

"It really isn't that surprising," Kitty said to me. "I mean, it's not like Kaiba doesn't already know every single card in Yugi's deck by memory."

I nodded in agreement – it _was_ a very Kaiba-ish thing to do.

"Well as promised since you qualified to enter you get this," said the guy as he held up a box. "KaibaCorp.'s brand new Duel Disk System!"

"Awesome!" said Yugi as he accepted the box with a smile. "Thank you!"

He didn't get much time to look over it thoroughly, however, as he was rudely pushed aside by Joey.

"I wanna register, also," said the blonde excitedly. "Joey Wheeler's the name."

"I'm sorry, you've only got one star," said the man after looking it up. "That ranking is much to low to enter."

It took a couple seconds for the information to register in his brain, but when it did Wheeler exploded.

"That can't be!" he yelled, enraged. "Kaiba fixed those results! I came in second in Duelist Kingdom!"

Fortunately Tristan intervened, restraining Joey and trying to calm him down without much success. It was sort of funny how Wheeler kept bringing up the whole "second place in Duelist Kingdom" thing, didn't he have anything else to say about his dueling skills?

Oh wait, he didn't. Never mind then.

"I'm sorry, Joey," said the receptionist suddenly. "It appears my hard drive was malfunctioning. Actually, you have four stars. Congratulations, you qualify."

"I knew the computer was wrong," Joey said confidently. "That's how I was able to stay relaxed and keep my cool while he fixed it."

Kitty slapped her forehead. I yawned.

"Best of luck," the man said, handing Joey his duel disk, who accepted it gladly.

"Battle City Tournament, here we come!" said Yugi, though I wasn't sure whether he was joking or not.

"Finally," I murmured. "Let's leave already."

We walked outside into the dark, cool crisp of the evening- Wait a second. How long had we been in there?! It had been the middle of the afternoon when we went in, and I was pretty sure not that much time had passed. Oh well, I preferred the night anyways.

"Guys, I gotta get going," Joey said after we had walked in a random direction for about five minutes. "My sister Serenity's operation is tomorrow and I told her I'd stay with her at the hospital tonight."

I could see Kitty cringing. She knew what was going to happen, of course, and so did I.

"Don't interfere with the plot," I whispered to her. "He'll be fine. Just think, if Wheeler doesn't loose his Red Eyes now, then Yugi won't acquire it. And if that doesn't happen…"

"Friends Till the End will end badly," she finished for me. "I know, but still…"

"Just wait until the ending of season two," I consoled her. "Then _you'll_ be the one holding _me_ back."

~*~

"Hey," I said, trying to act casual as we approached the spot where Yugi, Tristan and Tea were all talking about the missing Joey. "What's going on?"

"Thank goodness you're here!" Yugi said, turning to face us. "We could really use your help searching for Joey. He's gone missing!"

Kitty's concerned face was real. Mine wasn't.

"We'll definitely help," Kitty said, and then nudging me, her voice turning threatening. "_Right?_"

"Uh, yeah!" I said after a second, smiling a wide, fake grin. "Of course we'll _try_ and find him!"

Kitty glared at me.

"We should split up and check every corner of the city," Tristan suggested.

"It just isn't like Joey to miss his sister's operation," Yugi said, worry covering his voice like water. "Something must have happened to him."

"Alright, I'm heading down town," Tristan said boldly. "You guys look around here."

And then the others were gone. Don't ask me how they moved so fast, they just did.

"So," I said calmly. "Do you want to go to the beach now, or should we just wait for them to find him?"

"We're going to the beach," Kitty said, a wicked glint appearing in her eye. "I want to go knock some sense into Wheeler."

"You are possibly one of the strangest fangirls I've ever met," I said as we started walking, shaking my head. "One minute you're going to destroy the plot to save him, and the next you're wanting to punch him in the face!"

"At least I don't go after the villains," she said, smirking at me.

"They're the only intelligent people on the show," I replied, shrugging. "I can't help it."

"Yeah, intelligence does tend to be a lacking factor in most good guys," she agreed. "It's quite pathetic, really. So, are we going to walk or do you actually want to get somewhere by next week?"

"Fine," I huffed, and she took off running, not getting too far before I chased after her.

We ran for about five minutes, until finally we could smell the salty wind coming off the ocean. A couple more blocks, and we where standing on top of a tall wall surrounding the beach.

And down there was a lone figure, sitting in the sand.

We stood there for a couple of seconds, and the I turned and motioned for Kitty to go on ahead.

"Might as well get this over with," I said, and she smirked as a reply and jumped down.

"You know, that's a pretty pathetic pose for a duelist," Kitty said as she approached Joey. He looked up, surprised to see her, and then stood up slowly.

"What's wrong?" he said, though his tone was no longer held the chipper excitement as yesterday. Instead he sounded defeated and depressed.

"What's wrong?" she repeated, angrily. "What's wrong?! What's wrong is that you promised your sister you would be at the hospital, but instead your sitting here moping like a five-year old!"

He cringed. It just then became obvious just how beat up he really was.

"What's wrong?" Kitty asked, a mixture of concern and exasperation on her face.

"These thugs, 'Rare Hunters,' they called themselves," Joey replied, sounding completely out of it. "They attacked me on my way to the hospital. They said they take other people's rare cards, and…"

"They took your Red Eyes?" Kitty asked rhetorically. "And that stops you from going to see your sister how…?"

"Red Eyes was the key to my deck!" Wheeler yelled, coming alive again, and then deflating. "I… I can't comfort Serenity right now."

Kitty sighed through her teeth, and then reached back and slapped him. Joey reeled back in shock.

It took all the control I had not to burst out laughing then and there.

"You idiot!" she exclaimed at him. "Are you seriously putting a card at more importance than your sister?! It's a friggin' piece of _paper_!"

She turned around, and though from the back it must have seemed she was very sad and angry, she winked at me before continuing. She was enjoying this thoroughly.

"I thought you where a respectable person," Amanda said softly. "I was glad to have met you, glad to have you as my friend. But I guess you turned out to be just another selfish, useless dog."

I saw anger, hurt, and then finally realization come across Joey's face as he walked towards Amanda, placing a hand on her shoulder and turning her around. And then I realized she was actually crying.

Damn, she's a good actress.

"You're right," he said, the regret sounding clear in his voice. "I was being a jerk."

"It's ok," she said softly, and the embraced him – which was definitely a surprise for Wheeler, who looked extremely awkward as he clumsily hugged her back. I noticed he was blushing, though. Well, at least everything was going smoothly in the romantic section so far.

"Um," I said, and they broke apart, reminded of my presence. "As cute as you guys are, we really need to be heading over the hospital…"

Yes, the look on Wheeler's face was absolutely priceless.

**A/n: Yeah, definately not one of my favorites... As to why I cut off the end of the real episode, well it's because all I would be doing is typing up the episode. There isn't much room for any extra, interesting stuff. Also I find the ending of the episode quite dull.**

**Bunni: Isn't that your opinion of the whole episode?**

**Mystic: Yes, but when you add in the beach scene from the original episode it's much better.**

**Bunni: Nothing like violence to keep something interesting.**

**Mystic: Exactly. Please Rip + Review, hope you enjoyed!**


	7. Smoothies

**A/N *two or so days ago***

**Me: Ugh! I don't want write another chapter in which I'm pretty much just copying things from the episode! And I really don't feel like writing a boring children's card game!**

**Bunni: Then don't.**

**Mystic: But I want to make fun of Kaiba…**

**Bunni: Oh come on. You should be able to sneak away from the duel without messing that up. And besides, I don't think the readers are particularly enthralled with written-up episodes, either.**

**Mystic: You know what? For once, you're right. I mean, it's not my job to write up episodes for the general public while trying to find weird synonyms for the word "said." If you want that, then go watch the episodes yourself. I'm done with that. If you want more information, read the bottom author's note. Anyways, so on to the story!**

**Disclaimer: I do not, in fact, own Yugioh, any Yugioh characters, or anything else mentioned in this story besides the writing itself.**

"What the-" I said as I stopped suddenly, looking at the sky and sighing. "Ok, Kaiba, we get the point. You have a bucket load of money and your ego is the size of a… A…"

"Don't even try going there," Kitty replied, shaking her head with me at the sight we where looking at. "There's nothing large enough to compare it to."

"Yes, but still," I said, and then we continued walking. "Fireworks. In the daylight. How very… Kaiba."

Kitty and I were currently walking towards Domino Square. It was about time for the tournament to start, and we couldn't miss the first duel of Battle City. Plus, we wanted to see The Blimp.

"Greetings, duelists," announced a voice, the sound suddenly appearing – it was Jacketboy himself. "Welcome to Battle City."

Pandemonium ensued as the crowd searched for the source of the sound. Kitty and I were already looking directly at it and watching as it came closer and closer, and then–

"The Blimp has arrived," I whispered to myself.

"It's time to put your dueling skills to the test," Kaiba continued after a pretty sinister laugh, though I had heard better. "I hope none of you entered my tournament looking for friendly competition. Battle City's going to be an all-out war."

"Understatement of the century," Kitty said, and I chuckled in agreement.

"Before my Battle City Tournament begins, I'd like to let you all know what you're in for, in case you want to back out now," announced the literal floating head. "Let's begin with my new duel disks. Everyone who I decided was good enough received one. With it you can duel anytime, anywhere - and they contain a tracking chip that allows me to watch every move you make."

"Of course, it's not like he's going to be watching anyone but Yugi," I stated.

"Next, let's talk about the most important rule," Kaiba proclaimed. "The loser of the duel is required to fork over their rarest card to the winner. If you don't have the guts to risk loosing your precious cards, then I suggest you forfeit now. And anyone who's foolish enough can challenge me to a duel, because I'll also be competing in this tournament. But don't get you hopes up, because I intend to win. And there's one duelist I can't wait to defeat."

"You subtlety is astounding, Kaiba," Kitty commented sarcastically.

"And speaking of winning, only the eight best duelists will make it to the final round," said Kaiba. "And these finals will be held in a hidden location. In order to find the finals, you'll need these locator cards."

"Which definitely don't bear any resemblance to star chips," remarked Kitty. I snorted.

"You've each received one with your duel disk, but don't get too excited," Kaiba carried on. "Because one's not enough. You'll need six of them to make it to the tournament finals. Every time you win a duel, you get a locater card from your loosing opponent. When six cards are stacked together they produce a map of Battle City, and activate a GPS, which will transmit the location to you. But the tournament finals are a long time away and most of you will be eliminated way before that. Alright, everything I've said and more can be found in my tournament rulebook. Just remember, only one player can win and claim the title of number one duelist in the world."

"I wonder who that will be," I said in a dull, robotic tone. "It would be so terribly surprising if Yugi won, wouldn't it? Because that would never happen. _Ever_."

"Now get ready duelists," Kaiba said, finally done with the boring speech of drabness. "Let the Tournament begin!"

"That was redundant, overdramatic and unnecessary," Kitty said, and then we started walking to the area where the Yugi's first duel would take place.

"Yeah," I agreed. "And is it just me or is Kaiba a little off on where we are? I'm pretty sure it's still called Domino City, however much he would like to disagree."

Kitty mocked gasping.

"How dare you oppose Kaiba!" she said disdainfully. "If Kaiba says it's called Battle City, then it's called Battle City. If Kaiba says that waffles are better than pancakes, then they are!"

"Pancakes are better and you know it!" I argued, crossing my arms and sticking my tongue out at her. "And Kaiba can just go die in a corner for all I care!"

"Blasphemy!" she proclaimed, and then we both fell into a fit of hysterical laughter.

"But really, waffles are better," Kitty said as we continued on.

"Nu-uh," I said. "Pancakes could totally kick waffles' butt any day."

"Waffles," she replied threateningly.

"Pancakes!"

"Waffles!"

"Pancakes!"

And then we both started saying the words over and over again, so it might have sounded something like this:

"WAFFLESPANCAKESWAFFLESPANCAKESWAFFLESPANCAKESWAFFLESPAN-"

And then we where interrupted by being rudely pushed aside bye a certain tri-colored teenager.

"Oh yeah," Kitty said, watching Yugi demand to know what Joey was yelling about. "We're supposed to be helping them. Come on."

The pancakes-waffles thing had been postponed, yet again. But it would eventually come back.

It always does.

"You know what," I said, before we started walking over to the protagonists. "I don't think I want to watch the duel after all."

"Really?" Kitty answered sarcastically. "Why ever would you not want to watch a card game?"

"Because Kitten is an idiot, and it's boring," I said, ignoring her sarcasm.

"Well, yeah," she replied. "But what else are you going to do?"

"I don't know," I stated, thinking. "Find a smoothie shop?"

"Hmph," she retorted. "Well I'm going to stick around and continue to watch the actual plot happen."

"You're just staying so you can go all cheer-leader for the good guys," I pointed out. "But have fun, 'cause subplots are always much more interesting, anyways."

"...That's not _always_ true," she stated, and then shrugged. "Anyways, I guess I'll see you later."

And with that we parted ways.

~*~

If there was one thing to be said about what followed next, well, let's just say it was definitely not Bakura's day.

_Wake up, sleepy head! _I thought, sending the message towards wherever the heck the Thief King was. _That is, if you're asleep. If not, then… Wake up anyways, because I can't think of a better greeting._

I got back something along the lines of "Dfhjkshfuckyoudfihek."

_So I guess you were asleep, _I gibed, mentally smirking at him. _By the way, where are you right now?_

_…In my host's apartment, why- _he replied sleepily, and then seemed to snap out of it. _I probably shouldn't have told you that. Dare I ask why you want to know?_

_Because I'm bored_, I responded. _Anyways, see you soon!_

_What the hell is that supposed to mean?!_

And with that, I rang the doorbell of the little red flat were I had traced Bunni's mental link to.

_...And what makes you think I'm going to answer that? _stated a rather pissed-off Bakura.

I chuckled. _Because, if you don't, then I'll break in._

_And you really think you'll be able to break into _my_ abode?_

_You might be the Thief King of Ancient Egypt, but let's face it – technology is probably not you're thing. And actually, I wasn't originally planning to break in – I have a much more sinister threat that I'm saving for later._

_And dare I ask what that might be?_

_Let's just say it involves a lot of paint – specifically pink paint._

_…Fine. You win. _

_I always do._

The door was opened by a groggy-looking Bakura, who rolled his eyes at me before turning away as I stepped into the room.

"Make yourself at home," he told me sarcastically as he went to go pour a bowl of cereal. I abided and went to go sit down on the couch, avoiding a stain that looked very much like dried blood.

About five minutes later, in which I spent analyzing the surprisingly neat yet obviously unused home, the Egyptian spirit returned to sit down across from me in a chair. He looked more awake now, his dark red eyes staring at me unenthusiastically.

"So," he drawled, sighing. "What is it, exactly, that you need my presence for?"

"I want a smoothie," I said instantly, and this was definitely not the answer that Bunni was expecting.

He blinked several times while cataloging this information. "A… Smoothie?"

"Yes," I replied as if it was a perfectly normal thing. "You know, sort of like a milkshake, except with fruit in it?"

"I know what it is," he snapped. "It's just a little… Never mind. And why, may I ask, do you need my assistance?"

"Because I don't know where to get a smoothie," I explained, and almost laughed on the look at Bunni's face, which plainly said that there was no reason in heck that he should know where to find a smoothie, either. "And everyone else who knows the city is currently occupied with dueling in Kaiba's tournament, so I had no other choice but to come to you. Trust me, if there had been another option I would have taken it."

After closing his eyes in what I can only call a pained expression, he stood up and looked at me.

"Well, let's get this over with," he sighed, and I followed him out the door with a smirk on my face.

~*~

"So what is your world like, anyways?" Bunni asked casually as we walked down the sidewalk, me sipping my delicious kiwi-blueberry smoothie. It had taken us about an hour to find a smoothie store, but we had eventually.

"It's pretty much like this one," I said, thinking that it would be okay to tell him about it as long as I didn't mention anything relating to the future of this world. "Except a whole lot less obsessed with card games – instead we have violence, drugs and politics. Oh, and there's no magic."

"Sounds utterly fantastic," he commented cynically.

I took another slurp of my smoothie. "I mean, it's not all bad or anything, it's just… Boring. I like it much better here, where things actually happen."

"Trust me, it gets old after a while," he stated, before being interrupted by someone tapping Bunni on the shoulder. We turned around to find a young girl, maybe around the age of eleven, staring at us.

"Well?!" Bakura asked her, instantly becoming very pissed off.

"Excuse me, but have you seen-" she began to say, but then was cut off.

"No," Bunni sneered at her. "I haven't seen any parent, pet, doll, or whatever the hell you were looking for."

She ran off very quickly. I glared at Bunni.

"That wasn't very nice," I admonished him as we began walking again.

"I'm not exactly in the mood for being 'nice,'" he growled.

I "Hmphed" at him, and then suddenly an idea popped into my head.

_No, don't, _the partially sane part of me thought. _He's already PO'd enough as is._

_But it would be funny… _I argued the voice of reason.

_You're not even done with the smoothie anyways!_

_...It's worth it._

_It is?_

_Yes. Now shut up._

"You really need to learn to lighten up," I said light-heartedly, before turning to Bakura and throwing the remnants of my icy treat at him. Perfect aim, too. Now if only Kitty was here to see…. And then I saw the look on Bunni's face.

He was _mad_. Livid, more like.

"See, case of point," I pointed out. "All I did was throw a smoothie at you. There's no need to get all worked up about it."

And then I literally ran for my life.

Unfortunately, seeing as running isn't exactly my favorite thing to in the world to do, in about two minutes I was worn-out. Also, Bunni knew the area much better than I did, and soon had me backed down into a deserted alley. I turned around to face him, not knowing what to expect next.

And that's when I sensed the Shadow Magic.

I felt it before I saw him, preparing whatever it was that he had in store for me. A purple fog slowly drifted along the ground as he appeared, and the was definitely murder in his eyes.

The first strike hit me hard, like a whip, drawing blood as it cut across my left cheek. I cringed back, unable to defend myself from this force. I wasn't sure if Bunni was thinking clearly at the moment, maybe if I could…

Why is the voice of reason always right?

The next wave came like a crushing wall, it was definitely meant to sweep me into the Shadow Realm – but it didn't quite work that way.

Oh, I was sent to the Shadow Realm alright, but a strange instinct awoke in me and I was somehow able to drag him with me. I was not going to die tonight.

When I entered the Realm, the first thing I noticed was the energy. It was all around, everywhere, one big blob of dark purple. And that's the other thing, it didn't feel cold or alien like I had thought it would, it felt natural and even inviting to me. I had no physical form here, but my soul took on the shape of what my body looked like.

I heard a whisper then, of something else that had just observed my passing through. It was a feeble spirit, swirling around me before dissipating to spread it's message to others, something along the lines of _"She's back."_

I forgot about this and looked at Bakura, who had also materialized here. He still looked pretty ticked, but not as much as before.

"What the hell did you do?" he spat at me.

"I…" I started to say, trying to figure that out myself. "I honestly don't know. What did happen?"

At this he growled and began pacing, or something like it, as he thought.

"You took the magic I had cast and _amplified_ it, almost," he pondered. "Or reversed it. Anyways, it seems that you have some connection with the Shadows, at the very least. But that doesn't matter, what matters is you getting us out."

"Um…" I started, dumbfounded. "Can't you do that?"

"You're the one who brought us here," he said exasperatingly, as if speaking with a dull three-year old. "You're the one who has to bring us out."

"Jeez, I didn't know," I defended, feeling slightly annoyed. "But how would I do that?"

"Do what?"

"Leave the Shadow Realm."

Bunni groaned, and then turned to me.

"Well, first let's see how much power you have…." he murmured to himself before addressing me. "Attack me."

"What?" I asked, confused.

"Attack me," he repeated. "I probably won't be hurt, I just need to see how your power works and how much of it you have."

"Ok…" I said, and then concentrated.

The shadows came rushing to me willingly, giving me strength. With barely a thought I molded them together, creating a powerful force swiftly and aiming it at the expectant Bakura.

A bolt of electric blue energy slammed out of me and towards Bunni, missing him by about a foot but still causing him to stumble back in shock. I stared at my hands, wondering how on earth I could have summoned such a power so easily.

The effort left me drained, though, and I wavered. Something inside of me was telling me I had the energy to sustain more attacks like that, and even more powerful, but it was blocked by something, sort of like a mental dam…

In fact, now that I focused on it, there was a huge and seemingly infinite well of power inside of me, kept at bay by something… And it was part of me. It was me. I shrank back from it, though – I had barely been able to control a small, minute fraction of it, all of what was there would absorb me if I couldn't contain it...

Better not dwell on that, it would only make things more confusing. But still questions flowed through my mind: Why was all that there? Why had I never noticed it before? Who was I?

_What_ was I?

I shook my head and returned to the present.

"Damn!" Bakura exclaimed. I looked at him questioningly.

"That was…" he seemed to struggle for the right words. "Powerful. Very powerful. Your aim was way off, but you should have no problem getting us out of here..."

He drifted off, and then stared at my forehead with something a bit likesurprised recognition. "Well, that's definitely not the Eye of Horus…"

Bakura snapped out of it, and looked straight at me.

"Ok," he started. "Since you have absolutely no experience or aptitude with Shadow Magic, I'm going to start exiting the Realm, and you're going to help me."

"I'll just sort of give you boost or something?" I asked, making sure I understood correctly.

"Exactly," he replied, sounding pleased with himself, before getting started.

The fog ebbed around him as he quickly gathered the power. It was apparent that he was much more experienced at this than I was.

Then, as it reached a climax, Bakura pushed out beyond the wall between the two worlds, at the same time reaching to me with a thread. A "wind" started to gather up, and I almost laugh from the hysteria of the whirling motion around me.

"NOW!" he yelled at me, and I obliged, helping his pulling motion by pushing us away from here with a shove, and we went tumbling out of the Shadow Realm.

I blinked open my eyes with a yawn, and looked at the real world around me. Everything was so… Cloistered, so boxed in, compared to the Shadow Realm. I stretched and got up with another yawn. I was tired…

I saw Bunni coming to a few feet away. I walked over to him, and looked down, before holding my hand out.

"Truce?" I asked uncertainly. He glared at me with distaste, before sighing and taking my hand.

"If you must," he grumbled.

"Where to next?" I asked him.

"The museum," he smirked, after checking the Ring. "Someone there has a Millennium Item."

And so we began walking again, not really friends but not exactly enemies either.

Because right now we were on the same side. And it was going to stay that way for a very long time.

**A/n And that, my friends, is all!**

**Bunni: *grumbles***

**Mystic: Heh. Can't say I didn't enjoy writing that… So anyway, here's the plan for the rest of this fanfiction, in case you're wondering:**

**I would prefer if a lot more chapters were like this one, since my favorite part of Yugioh is definitely not the card games. I'm thinking of maybe next chapter going back and go through a quick overview of the skipped episodes from Kitty's POV, if any of you are interested. But hopefully if things go well, in one of the next two or three chapters Marik shall be coming in, and then things get better. But really until the end of season three in the show the story is mostly going to follow the original plotline. After that, well… Things are going to get a whole lot more interesting.**

**Bunni: "Interesting" being a loosely used term. Unless by interesting you mean completely bending the original plotline to your will as you see fit.**

**Mystic: Shut it. So anyways, sorry about the late and kind of short chapter… SO! Thank you very much Flamepelt3377, Kitty Fowl, ****Lightest'Ink****, and DaAmazingMeepers for reviewing! The next update should be up by November 20****th****. Please ruffle and review, bye for now!**


	8. Vroom

**A/n Yay for random time skip! Nothing to see here now, move along.**

**FDFTFE (Final Disclaimer For This Fic EVER) : Seriously, I don't own it. **

_These past few days had been hectic, _Kitty thought as she walked around Domino, trying to find Kitten. _But then again, I've been hanging out with _Joey_ for the majority of them. There really isn't much else they could be._

It was early in the morning, and Amanda had just gotten up. Seeing as today would be the day that Marik officially entered the city, and she didn't want to be kidnapped/put under mind control, Kitty would be going with Kitten, and later Kaiba, to watch him duel the mime and then go to rescue the others. All leading to Friends `Till The End.

Which was a good episode. Annoying, but still a good episode.

The girl continued walking, until she came upon a familiar riverbank. The duel was about to start.

Kitty walked a bit closer and sat down. It was a pretty good vantage point, plus Kaiba would be arriving in pretty much the exact same spot once Slifer was summoned.

And if there was anyone that was particularly fun to annoy, it was Kaiba.

~*~

I took a deep breath of air and released it in a sigh. The museum, as expected, had been a drag; I had pretty much stood there while Bunni obsessed over the giant rocks. But now things were going to get interesting at last.

"So…" I drawled, looking over at Bunni. "Now what-_He_llo!"

At that very moment the Millennium Ring had lit up, probably from the sudden spike in shadow energy that I had just felt, as well as my companion.

"A familiar dark energy source…" Bakura murmured, and I grinned.

Marik had finally arrived.

"Yeah, it's a probably a new Millennium Item or something - let's go find it!" I said. Bunni looked at me, suspicious of my sudden boost of enthusiasm.

"What?" I defended myself. "As if you've never-"

"Hey!" interrupted a chipper voice that could only be Tea.

I groaned, not exactly thrilled at the prospect of a delay - and a rather annoying one at that.

And so I was forced to sit there and act interested as the good guys continued to ramble on and on about the tournament and such. Bo-ring. After about five minutes, however, they left.

I wasn't the only one who wasn't pleased.

"Play your foolish games-" Bakura started, now reverted back to his normal, none-disguised form.

"F-word, Bunni," I interrupted, before giggling a little bit.

"What?" he asked, resigned to whatever insanity was about to spew out of his mouth.

"I'm sorry," I said, calming down. "It's just… The look on your face was so stupid!"

He rolled his eyes and then looked at me. "Weren't you so excited just a few minutes ago to find the Millennium Item that just entered the city?"

"Oh yeah!" I exclaimed, remembering. "Well come on! Let's go!"

~*~

"Did you know that Slifer is 929.6 yards long, Kaiba?" asked a certain brown haired girl, gesturing at the god card that had just been summoned on the dueling field below.

"No, I didn't," said the impatient CEO. Whatever patience he had left was being quickly hammered down by Kitty.

"That's strange, I thought you would," said the girl in a nonchalant manner. "I mean, the Egyptian gods are one of the four things you're actually interested in. And by interested, of course, I mean obsessed."

The only response from Kaiba was a grunt, his eyes being glued on the card game.

"Well, Mokie I can understand, him being your brother and all. The Blue Eyes is a little overboard, I mean it's not like it isn't a bloody awesome jet but just the fact that you designed it after a trading card is a little weird. And of course we have Yugi. I mean, you probably know what his blood type is-"

"It's AB."

Breaking off mid-rant, Kitty turned and stared at him. He did the same after a few minutes, seeming rather surprised at what had just left his mouth.

"Stalker," Amanda said.

"I am not a-"

"Denial."

"Look, there is-"

"Whatever you are about to say won't make any difference. You know his _blood type_. That is pretty dang stalker-ish if you ask me."

Kaiba sighed. This was going to be a very long tournament.

~*~

"My name is Marik."

"I don't care."

"Well that was kind of rude," I said, stepping out of the shadows from which I had been hiding, listening in on the positively thrilling conversation that had just took place.

"Oh yes, because you're the absolute _queen_ of manners," Bunni replied, gazing at the heavens as if something would come down and rescue him from what was about to follow.

"See?" I asked rhetorically. "Case of point. Somebody needs to go back to kindergarten."

"…Seeing as they didn't exactly have schools in Ancient Egypt, I never went in the first place," the irritable thief retorted.

"That explains so much," I said, as sincere as I could manage, staring at him with wide-open eyes before snapping out of it and returning to face Marik. "So, where were we?"

Judging from the bemused and confused look on Marik's face, I had forgotten to introduce myself. …Crap, I rhymed. Maybe if I replace confused with confuzzled… But that's not a word. Darn. Anyways, this point was amplified by the tan Egyptian saying, "I'm pretty sure that we were in the middle of introducing ourselves."

"Ah, yes," I stated promptly, and then proceeding in doing just that. "I'm Kelsey, and Mr. Grumpy-Pants over here likes to go by Bakura. Even though he should probably just go ahead and legally change his name to Bunni because it fits better, and makes things so much easier on the rest of us."

I got an amused snort out of Marik and a "Hmph" out of Bunni, so all was well. As for my emotions at the time, on the outside I was the perfect figure of calmness. On this inside, I was resisting the instinctual urge to just tackle-glomp Marik on the spot. My thought process was something along the lines of this:

Ok, ok… Just focus on the wall. It's a very nice wall… Let's count the bricks! One, two, three, four- NO. Bad Kelsey! Don't stare at him! Don't even look at him! And especially don't look into his gorgeous amethyst eyes- Wall. Wall. Stare at the wall. Stare at the fascinating wall and ignore the smoking hot Egyptian standing right in front of you.

I just pretty much stood there while they talked, trading insults and facts and – Ooh, Millennium Rod. Shiny. Soon my gaze began to wander, until it fell on the motorcycle. I hadn't noticed it at first, but now that I did… At least I could stare at that without feeling awkward. Beautiful. I had always wanted a motorcycle, but my parents thought they were "Too dangerous." Hah. Can't be any more dangerous than cross-dimensional traveling, can it?

It was at that precise moment that the pigeons attacked. Or at least I think they were pigeons, in reality they could have been any street bird, but pigeons always seem the most… Devious. Those small little birds always have that planning look on their faces, as if their plotting your downfall. Not as evil as squirrels, but close. And by evil, of course, I mean the bad kind.

In all actuality the first hit was pretty amusing. First Marik was talking, and then with a SPLAT there was a white blob where his forehead used to be. He had stopped mid-sentence, and now a very bemused look crossed over his face as he processed what had happened. Two tan fingers reached up and brushed across his forehead, to be held in front of lavender eyes has he blinked once, staring.

Marik then looked straight up at they sky, probably trying to find his avian attacker. I followed suit, and was about to point out how pathetic it was to be defeated by bird when a similar bomb fell, hitting me square on the nose.

By this point Bunni was on the verge of breaking out in pure maniacal laughter. Why maniacal, you ask? Because when it's Bunni, it's _always_ maniacal.

And of course the idiot made the really smart mistake of turning his head towards the sky with his mouth open. I'll give you three guesses as to what happened. And no, "getting hit by a piano" isn't the answer, as much as I would have enjoyed that. But as terms of grossness go, having bird poop land in your mouth is pretty high up there.

While a look of horror and disgust flew up upon the thief king's face both Marik and I started laughing. Hard. And no, it wasn't maniacal. Thank you for asking.

I was having to wipe away tears after Bakura finally finished retching off to the side. I mean, had that been perfect or what? No longer were the pigeons my enemies, they had now become vital allies and the quest to humiliate the spirit as much as possible.

After he stood back up, wiping away the excess stomach acid, Bunni glared at the two of us. As if by script, I looked sneakily at Marik as he did the same, deciding to remark on recent events. "That was…"

"Interesting," I finished for him. Then we both starting laughing again.

After a few more minutes of that Marik somehow managed to produce a towel – I have honestly no idea where he got it – and handed it to me after taking care of his own mess. Cleaning up, I stuck my tongue out at the pouting Bakura before throwing the towel back to it's owner, who caught and returned it to the thing's unknown position.

"So," Marik said, looking at us. "Allies?"

I nodded with enthusiasm, but had to give Bunni a sharp poke of the elbow and he gave in with a mumbled "Fine."

And then the weirdest thing happened. As soon as he said that, it was as if a light switch had been switched on. The best way I can put it is that we all started to glow. I decided not to bring it up, remembering that it had happened in the actual episode and no one besides me was noticing anyways.

I made a mental note to make an editing version of "I'm a Little Teapot" that involved glow sticks later.

~*~

"How the heck did he do that?!" Kitty asked with disbelief and awe in her voice.

"…How did he do what?" said the taller man standing next to her, whose blue eyes portrayed a very irritated mood.

"Jump about thirty feet in the air," she replied, ignoring Kaiba's manner for all it was worth, which wasn't very much anyways.

Then she turned to him and Kitten looking at them both for a second with an air of extreme curiosity and scrutiny. "Hell, how do any of you people do that? Never mind the fact about the holographic monsters in the movie, both of you jump about five stories easily! That's not natural."

They both just stared at her for a moment before continuing on, for once agreeing on something. They had no idea what she was talking about and had started to learn not to ask when such topics came about. Kitty followed after them, now slightly irritated herself that those two idiots couldn't even answer such a simple question.

It was Kaiba, for Ra's sake, it was all but part of his character description to have some sort of rational explanation for everything!

~*~

One word that summed up the moment: Awesome.

Motorcycle riding was even better than I had thought it would be… Made all the more exhilarating by the fact that I was sitting behind and holding onto Marik. Yes, this was friggin' brilliant in every sense of the term.

Unable to resist, I let out a laugh of pure joy as we zoomed down the street. It had been decided that I would go with Marik back to the ship while Bunni would go steal souls or something. I honestly did not give a damn about Bakura at the moment. Not one single blip.

Smiling, I snuggled back against Marik – an act that could easily be pulled off without notice while riding a bike.

**A/n I know it was late, I know it's short. I'm currently VERY disappointed in myself. But hey, at least you got an update. Those of you who are here from last year remember that this was around the time I stopped writing. Part of the reason is my dad getting a huge-ass promotion that involved lots of ceremonies and stuff, him being in the Navy and all. And then as soon as that's over we had Thanksgiving and then after that teachers just LOVE to give out tons and tons of work. And then Christmas, bloddy da da. But this time I decided not to give up. I didn't. Here's proof, here's what will bridge the gap that usually fills this time and space in my writing. I managed to struggle through this piece, and hopefully the rest will come more easily. **

**But seriously, thank the pigeons. If it hadn't been for them then this never would have happened and it's doubtful if you would have ever seen another chapter. And as a bonus here is a short song I wrote that is mentioned in the chapter:**

**To the tune of I'm a Little Teapot'**

**I'm a little glow stick, small and bright**

**Here is my casing and here is my light**

**Don't break me open or I'll here you shout**

**Chemicals in your eyes really burn!**

…**Yeah, it sucks doesn't it? And trust me when I say do NOT put glow stick juice in your eye. It's not fun. **

**Reconcile and review! ~ Mystic (hey, that probably fits for once!)**

**P.S. And for those of you wondering, that is exact information that Kitty talks about. Look it up if you don't believe me. **

**Happy New Years everyone!**


	9. Coming Soon to own on DVD and Video

**A/n So yeah, this isn't really a chapter. Just thought I'd give you guys something to let you know I'm still alive. I kinda failed on the whole update thing.**

"And that's because friendship-"

"That is _it_!" said Kitty, interrupting yet another speech. "I am so done with all this crap!"

The rest of the good guys simply stood and stared at her, not saying a word.

"Tea pretty much sits there like a friendship fountain," she said, beginning the rant. "Tristan is just simply there for no reason, Kitten is…. Well… Kitten, and Joey is too stupid to even play a bloody children's card game without Yugi telling him what to do!

"Speaking of Yugi, he's the only acceptable one among you pathetic idiots!" Kitty finished, going over to pat the said short teen on the head. "And I'm sorry Yugi, but even your adorableness can't make up for the rest of them.

"As of this day, I am turning evil!"

And with that she started to walk off.

"Bye, Amanda!"

"Fuck you, Wheeler!"

"Love you, too!"

**A/n ...And there you go. No, this never will and won't actually happen, it's a little thing that Kitty and I came up with one day... I'll try and get the next update up soon-**

**~Always, I wanna be with you...~**

**N-no. Bad music. They mustn't know the reason I haven't updated is because of robot unicorns and fairies and rainbows...**

**~And make believe with you...~**

**...It calls to me. **

**AND LIVE IN HARMONY HARMONY OH LOVE~!**


	10. Things Get Dramatic

**A/n - I am wearing miss-matched socks right now. Bet'chya didn't know that. …On other news, I'm back. And the only reason you're getting this chapter, or the continuation of this fanfic, is because of Lightest'Ink. So go shower her in praises in read her awesome story. **

**And sorry about the random continuity shift dealing with day and night here, but I'm working with what was originally written. It should get better soon.**

_Damn arrogant male._

I had been "storming off" for about five minutes now, ranting endlessly in my head about the downfall of humankind and how the second most likely reason for it to happen is men. The first being squirrels, of course.

But I mean, really? I had woken up earlier, in the boat… And I do really like boats, when your dad's in the Navy it tends to get you an acclimation for the ocean. After waking up I had wondered around in said boat for several minutes, only to find it completely devoid of any life except for the random rare hunter (stupid name, by the way, someone was getting a berating for that later, among other things) who had kindly informed me that "Master Marik" was off kidnapping Joey or something.

Without me. The stupid idiotic boy had left without saying a word, leaving me behind to do nothing. What did he think I was, some sort of trophy? Then again, he was male. I had left in rage with intention to find him, completely disregarding the fact that I had no idea where I was.

"Oh, bugger."

And then I heard footsteps.

* * *

"Why on top of a skyscraper? What on earth could posses you to think that dueling on top of a skyscraper would give you any advantage whatsoever?"

The rare hunters ignored Kitty, having picked that up from Kitten and Kaiba pretty quickly. Sighing, Kitty sat down and decided it wouldn't hurt to take a nap.

"Wake me when you win," she called to the protagonists. "And I call window seat on the copter."

* * *

Marik had to admit the plan had gone rather smoothly. He strolled away from where the blonde had been brainwashed and decided he might as well go back to the boat, take a well earned rest after the good work and wait for the outcome of the duel…

Oh wait, there was the girl. He smiled; he was looking forward to having some intelligent and un-brainwashed company besides Odion. Rude as she had been to Bakura, he had deserved it, and she had shown no signs of acting the same towards himself. In fact, she hadn't interacted with him much at all, instantly taking off to bed as soon as they had got back.

Then again, he hadn't exactly been mister outgoing himself either. She was independent, and she was a girl. A girl that wasn't his sister. He hadn't encountered many of those…

He turned the corner and entered the indoor dock, and his smile faded when he saw the guard he had posted there asleep. How was she supposed to be protected like that? He sighed and went to go find her, he would reprimand the guard later…

A few minutes later he was the hunter was awaken by being kicked out of his chair, and whimpered when he realized that it was his master who had done so.

"Where is she?"

"I-I don't know Master, she just left.."

"Just left?" Marik was very angry at this, he had a bad feeling at the pit of his stomach. "I instructed you to keep her safe, and keep her _here_."

"She… Threatened me."

"A fifteen year old girl threatened a full grown man? With what, exactly, did she threaten you?"

"A spoon."

Marik growled with frustration and briskly left the building. He had to find her, this wasn't a good area for a girl to be in alone.

* * *

"Please, powers…" I said, talking to myself out of desperate hope. "Please work… Now… It would help a lot…"

I cradled my arm, trying my best to ignore the throbbing and the blood that was seeping into my shirt as I stumbled away from my attacker. Just my luck to be attacked by a man. A man with a knife, and a big one at that.

The man scared me to no end, for I knew that there was a good chance I might just die. Why was I so stupid? I was supposed to smart, not likely to run off into a random chain of alleys just because I was angry at something.

I stumbled again, this time crying out as I hit the ground. My shirt was already soaked and the blood kept coming, he had hit something major and my head was beginning to go dizzy from blood loss. I had always imagined myself being strong and invincible in such a situation, but in reality I was now helpless and on the verge of death, even with whatever powers I possessed.

I looked up helplessly as the dark figure loomed over me, shining blood-stained blade held in his hand. I closed my eyes, praying that whatever would happen I wouldn't feel it for long, resigning myself to death.

Nothing happened. I opened my eyes and saw a sight perhaps even more frightening than the one before.

My attacker made a strange gurgling noise as the blade slid out from his neck. The body slumped to the ground, knife still dangling from his fingers.

There stood Marik, righteous with anger. The blade-tipped Mellenium rod held in one hand the glowing eye on his forehead said enough. He blinked then, and seemed to calm down some as he quickly slipped the Rod away, now sheathed in an obviously practiced act. The eye faded slightly as he ran over to me and bent down, looking at me closely.

"Are you ok…" he left the statement hanging as he saw the blood and the shape my arm was in. To my shame tears began to slip out of my eyes. It was all just too much. As the world turned black I started to hallucinate, feeling arms around me and a comforting voice.

"It's going to be alright."

* * *

_`Sand_. There was sand, everywhere, hot as the burning sun overhead. And it was the sand that I collapsed into, the sand that acted as a grainy pillow for my head. Too exhausted to think, the thoughts in my head were streams of what had once been. Memories flashed of temples, people, fire...

_"You can't escape it, this thing you were made to do."_

_"But I can try."_

The sand dissolved, shifted into a swirling black void. No sense of self, no sense of anything, except for the feeling. The feeling was of a terrible purpose, as if I were a ticking time bomb, that something was causing a change inside of me. Changing the chemical composition of my soul into something that could not be considered human in the slightest.

Perspective changed. Not a bomb. An egg. The void was the shell, the mask that had been put on. Chip, chip… Slowly breaking away, as everything else lined up in position. Slowly, very slowly, but it would give in. And then again, why care about the thing itself?

I was only interested in what lay beyond.

**A/n - Yeah, it's kinda short and bit more serious than usual, but I needed to get the plot moving again. Actually got this written in one night, and most of that time was spent figuring out exactly what episode I was on... But anyways, see you guys next time.**

**Rend and review ~ Mystic**


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